History WebVideo / BoardJames

** Subverted; the first regular episode ("Dragonstrike") has Board James introduce himself with the phrase "Hey! I'm Board James. [[JustForPun And when Board James is bored, I play some board games]]." This is delivered in such a way that it APPEARS to be his opening catchphrase, but he doesn't say it again until the ''Omega Virus'' episode -- as an IronicEcho, given the circumstances.

* RageBreakingPoint [=/=] TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Board James always plays the nice guy who tolerates Bootsy's oddness and is oblivious to Mike's cheating, but even he had enough and cracked, reaching the AVGN's levels of rage, after Bootsy took his Toy Shark [[AnythingThatMoves to fuck it.]]

* ColdBloodedTorture: In the "Nightmare and Beyond" episode, [[spoiler:James tortures Mike and Bootsy in the graveyard scene by hacking off Booty's limbs one by one with a chainsaw to play Hangman and inserts random objects in Mike. He then cuts open Mike with garden shears and uses a live battery wire to remove the objects in order to play a sick version of Operation.]]

* ThrowTheDogABone: Episode 27, the darkest in the series, ''finally'' fulfills Booty's request to play ''Candyland''.

** Mike does eventually play this trope straight. When James gets tag-teamed by [[spoiler:Mr. Bucket and the Dream Phone]] in the "Ouija / Domino Rally" episode, Mike appears and kills them off. While impersonating Elvis, no less.

* BodyHorror: In the ''Operation'' world of the "Nightmare" episode, James reenacts the game by using ''Mike'' as the patient, having put a bunch of foreign objects in Mike's body, as shown by the stitches seen when James pulls the sheet back...
* BookEnds: [[spoiler:The second season ends with the first showcase of James' descent into madness, with him making a NightmareFace that flashes briefly before a sharp cut to black. The third season ends after James has really gone off the rails and has been killed in every game reality shown in the season finale, and a shot of his skeleton underwater surrounded by board games cuts [[SmashCut quic]][[JumpScare kly]] into that same NightmareFace.]]

* ChekhovsGunman: The crocodile in ''Forbidden Bridge'' in the ''Nightmare'' episode. It is initially shown when Mike and Bootsy are first on the bridge, and [[spoiler:when Bootsy falls and is unharmed, the crocodile is the one to kill him]].

** Season 3 is DarkerAndEdgier than the previous 2 seasons, usually sticking to the normal video style but then having a conclusion pertinent to the overarching plot at hand. The final two episodes, ''13 Dead End Drive'' and ''Nightmare'', are the darkest in the entire series.
* DeepImmersionGaming: Done in the "Nightmare" episode with the titular board game, ''Operation''/''Hangman'', ''Candyland'', ''Battleship'', and ''Forbidden Bridge''.

* FreezeFrameBonus: Multiple in the Nightmare episode:

** The 13 Dead End Drive episode ends with [[spoiler:Mike getting arrested by James, and when he tries to hang Mike he ends up hanged himself by Mike in a form of self-defense. Bootsy then hangs Mike, and then he ends up accidentally hanging himself. Afterwards the episode ends showing James in prison reading a bunch of board game manuals, being shushed by fellow inmates Mike and Bootsy.]]
** The ''Nightmare'' episode, because [[JigsawPuzzlePlot so many subplots were unfolding simultaneously]] that all of the characters' fates are somewhat vague. Even with the MindScrewdriver James provided, it was meant to not give a concrete answer and have fans theorize or conclude for themselves.

* NeverSmileAtACrocodile: In the "Nightmare" episode, Bootsy gets killed by a crocodile in ''Forbidden Bridge''.

* NotTheFallThatKillsYou: In the "Nightmare" episode, this is everyone's fate in the Forbidden Bridge world. [[spoiler:Mike hits his head on a rock, Bootsy is perfectly fine after the fall but is then attacked by a crocodile, and James lands on [[HoistByHisOwnPetard his own spear]] that he accidentally dropped earlier, which didn't [[TheBladeAlwaysLandsPointyEndIn land pointy end in]], but pointy end ''up''.]]

** Mike in the ''Nightmare'' episode when [[spoiler:while playing ''Battleship'', he launches a torpedo but then realizes it's headed straight for Bootsy's ship]].

* SeriesFauxnale: "Dream Phone" was designed as the potential final episode of the series before James eventually found the time to get back to it, and "Nightmare" is a similar example.

[[AsHimself Board James]] is a pretty normal guy, a kid at heart who collects a great variety of BoardGames as a hobby and reviews them. Sometimes Board James does his reviews alone, but from time to time he's joined by his [[VitriolicBestBuds best friend]] [[{{Jerkass}} Motherfucker Mike]], who is a bit of a cheater when it comes to playing the games. And when there's a place on the board for an extra player, there's [[TheJinx Bad Luck Bootsy]], an annoying but friendly guy who is prone to ruining the games and who causes nothing but trouble to James, Mike and himself.

* JustHereForGodzilla: [[invoked]]The video on ''TabletopGame/{{Mousetrap}}'' talks about how, though the game does have a clear ruleset involving assembling the trap, collecting pieces of cheese, and a RollAndMove mechanic to get one or more of the players into position, most people ignore it altogether in favor of assembling the trap immediately just to watch it go.

%%* BoardGames

** In the "Video Games" episode if you pause the video just right around 1:08 [[spoiler:you can see an image of Mike and Bootsy just as Board James is explaining being trapped for eternity with two ghosts. This foreshadows TheReveal in "Board James Mythology Explained" that they have already died, [[RecursiveReality and each death just sends them deeper into an another boardgame]].]]

* ''13 Dead End Drive''

* CoversAlwaysLie: In the episode about Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles games, as the games were more visually attractive and better illustrated the less fun they were.

* FanSequel: When he was a kid, James made a board game based on [[VideoGame/StreetFighterII Street Fighter II]]... and tired of waiting for the actual sequel, he made another one based on his own imaginary version of Street Fighter III. One of the characters was [[{{Dracula}} ''Dracula''.]]

** This goes off the rails entirely when it's ''possibly'' revealed that [[spoiler:James, Mike, and Bootsy are all in prison, and the series to this point may have been AllJustADream. [[MindScrew Maybe.]] According to WordOfGod, the prison scenes are {{Flashbacks}} and the true location of the series is the afterlife.]]

* KillEmAll: How [[spoiler:"13 Dead End Drive"]] ends. [[spoiler:Mike hangs James, Bootsy hangs Mike, and then Bootsy accidentally hangs himself.]]

** "Full House/Urkel Game" [[spoiler:confirms it, then takes it UpToEleven by suggesting that Mike and Bootsy are hallucinations too, and always have been, even ''before'' "Dream Phone".]]

* ActuallyPrettyFunny: In a moment in ''Shark Attack'' that's either this or {{Corpsing}}, Bootsy winds up his middle finger like a jack-in-the-box, humming "Pop Goes the Weasel", causing James and Mike to immediately crack up.

* {{Corpsing}}: Bad Luck Bootsy tends to have this effect on James and Mike, usually when he quips before they start playing the game.

* ''TabletopGame/MouseTrap''

** The ''Dream Phone'' episode. We shouldn't even have to explain why by this point.

* FilkSong: A [[OnceAnEpisode staple]] of the series.

-->'''Bad Luck Bootsy:''' *picks up a card* ''Buy books and supplies, pay 5,000 dollars'', I already did that shit ten years ago in college!
-->'''Board James:''' ...You have a college degree?
-->'''Bad Luck Bootsy:''' ''[as if it's the most obvious thing in the world]'' Bioengineering.

--> '''Board James:''' What was I thinking?!
** In the "Lie Detector" episode, James re-enacts the "listen, you fuckers, you screwheads" scene from ''Film/TaxiDriver'' after he gives the Taxi Driver card a warrant of arrest.

* SlasherSmile: James does one [[spoiler:at the end of the Dream Phone episode.]] Its DissonantSerenity and [[spoiler:its hinting that James has gone crazy]] makes it all the more unsettling.

** From "Dream Phone".
-->'''Board James''': I'M IN THE CLOSET! HOW CAN YOU SEE ME?
-->'''[[spoiler:Dream Phone]]''': Well, you sure got a ''hold'' on me!
** From "Full House / Do the Urkel"
-->[[spoiler:"You don't need to pretend. It's okay not to have any friends..."]]
** From the "Video Game Board Games" episode, a certain phrase regarding TheReveal:
-->'''Board James''': "[[spoiler:[[SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay What were they thinking?!]]]]"
** And then to really drive it home:
-->'''[[spoiler:AVGN]]''': [[spoiler:"You'll always be a nerd... a ''video game nerd''."]]

** The ending of "Dream Phone", [[spoiler:where James starts exhibiting insanity via DissonantSerenity]].
** The end of the "Full House / Do the Urkel" episode: [[spoiler:When James's friends tell him he never had friends to begin with, a flashback is shown of James playing Crossfire and yelling at Mike, except Mike was not there at all. Cut back to the present day, where James finds himself alone, seemingly realizing that Mike and Bootsy never existed.]]

** The "Shark Attack" episode, which ends after James reaches a RageBreakingPoint, yells at Mike and Bootsy, and then leaves. Not counting TheStinger, which still doesn't make much sense.
** The "Omega Virus" episode, which has the big reveal that there are [[MesACrowd multiple Jameses]] playing at once. Then another James comes in and kills them all, revealing the duplicates to be [[RobotMe robotic doppelgangers]].

** The ''Nightmare'' episode, because [[MindScrew so many subplots were unfolding simultaneously]] that all of the characters' fates are somewhat vague. Even with the MindScrewdriver James provided, it was meant to not give a concrete answer and have fans theorize or conclude for themselves.

--> '''Board James:''' C'mon--really, guys? This is a really simple fucking game. Why can we just play a fucking board game? (Mike laughs) ''IT'S NOT FUCKING FUNNY!'' Like, this is the most dysfunctional group of friends I ever had! You're over there cheating, you're over there--making love with ''the damn shark!'' I'm bored, I wanna play a fucking board game--you're fucking pissing me off!! FUCK YOU GUYS!! ''WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR GUYS' FUCKING PROBLEM?!'' '''''[[AtomicFBomb FUCK!!]]'''''

-->'''James''': What the hell? (''Ripping the phones out of their hands to smash them on the floor'') Fuck technology!

[[AsHimself Board James]] is a pretty normal guy, a kid at heart who collects a great variety of BoardGames as a hobby and reviews them. Sometimes Board James does his reviews alone, but from time to time he's joined by his [[VitriolicBestBuds vitriolic best bud]] [[{{Jerkass}} Motherfucker Mike]], who is a bit of a cheater when it comes to playing the games. And when there's a place on the board for an extra player, there's [[TheJinx Bad Luck Bootsy]], an annoying but friendly guy who is prone to ruining the games and who causes nothing but trouble to James, Mike and himself.

The series started out as a SpinOff of Rolfe's most famous work ''WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd'', but is now its own series. In its infancy, it followed the same MidReviewSketchShow formula that Rolfe helped popularize as the Nerd, but featured a much less ''[[CausticCritic enraged]]'' style of reviewing, often [[CompassionateCritic focusing on the good]]. However, it would eventually carve its own path by developing a MythArc in its third season that was [[CerebusSyndrome shockingly dark]], [[JigsawPuzzlePlot complex]], and [[MindScrew surreal]] for a show that started out as goofy and humble as it did.

The show was put on hiatus in April 2013 after [[WhamEpisode the ]] ''[[WhamEpisode Dream Phone]]'' [[WhamEpisode episode]], the series' first foray into the aforementioned darker storyline. [[WordOfGod According to Rolfe]], he had plans on continuing the series with a new season, but had fallen behind due to working on [[Film/AngryVideoGameNerdTheMovie the Nerd's movie]]. He promised that more episodes would come, and the promise was fulfilled when the series returned on, of all days, AprilFoolsDay 2015.

The finale of the third season came out on December 4, 2015 and centered around the board game ''Nightmare'' of the Atmosfear series while incorporating numerous other board games within it. While James originally said that the series wasn't over yet and was just on another hiatus, he has since said that he has no plans to continue the series, and with both Mike and Bootsy having parted ways with Cinemassacre, it's likely to say that way.